


we are (connected yet unseen)

by Fabro-de-omres (Fabro)



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Alternate Universe - My Hero Academia Fusion, Alternate Universe - Quirks (My Hero Academia), Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Aromantic Kai, Attempt at Humor, F/M, Gen, Grayromantic Kai, I'm sorry Zane Stans your boy is barely in here, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Vigilantism, how did i forget that one, ironic high school musical references, minimal research so um oops, oh gosh you know you're old when you tag as pre-slash, overusage of dead memes, unironic high school musical references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23892640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabro/pseuds/Fabro-de-omres
Summary: “I don’t have feelings,” Kai hisses.  “I don’t do crushes.  No one has a crush on me. I’m too strong to be crushed.”or:Kai runs a dojo.  Cole owns the flowershop across the street.  Mix in superpowers, quirk drugs, and a vigilante who dresses in all black and you've got yourself a pretty good origin story.
Relationships: Cole & Kai (Ninjago), Cole/Kai (Ninjago), Lloyd Garmadon/Food, Nya/Jay Walker
Comments: 12
Kudos: 76





	we are (connected yet unseen)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from The FOLD's "We are Ninjago".
> 
> This is a Ninjago x BNHA au! Watching BNHA is not required to understand this fic- all you need to really know is that in this universe, everyone has a unique superpower- called a quirk- and while most people go about their lives normally with their superpowers, others choose to become heroes and fight villains and crime.

Kai first sees him across the street.

So technically, that's a lie. Technically, all he sees is a big van parked beside the storefront, boxes and crates nearly obscuring a head of black hair that's carrying them inside. But details have never been Kai’s strong suit, and they're not about to start being it now.

“Hey, look,” he drawls, leaning forward in his chair to see through the window. “The new guy’s here.”

“Really?” Lloyd’s mop of blond curls pops up into his face. Kai splutters and gets a mouthful of hair for his effort.

“How'd you get here so fast?” he accuses, pulling strings of hair from his tongue. Gross. Hair. Why other people have it, he doesn't know. “Didn't I have you cleaning the toilet?”

Lloyd puts on his best affronted expression. “Are you insinuating that I was on my phone instead of working? Because I would _never_.”

Kai pushes Lloyd off him. He collapses to the floor with an _oof_. “Brat. What did I ever see in you in the first place?”

“My charming smile won you over,” says Lloyd. He's clamored off the floor and is now pressing himself up against the window, squinting across the street. Kai lets him. It's not like he's the one who’ll be cleaning them later. “Ooh, he's got flowers.”

Indeed he does. Kai watches the new neighbor carry a pot of red flowers through his door. They go in the windowsill, a bright spot of color in the blue-outlined glass.

“We’ll have to go welcome him to the neighborhood once he's settled in,” Lloyd says.

“We?” Kai asks, quirking an eyebrow. “How about you finish that bathroom before the next class comes in and then we’ll think about ‘we’.”

Lloyd pouts at him, but he does actually need to do work, at his literal _job_ that Kai is paying him for, so he goes skulking away.

Lloyd’s words stick with him, however, and Kai finds himself standing outside the shop a week later, a bag of popcorn clutched in his hand because his mother didn't raise a neanderthal. The weather has been nice recently, and the door is propped open by a rock with a smiley face painted onto it. One side of Kai’s mouth quirks up. It reminds him of Jay’s workshop.

He steps inside. The shop is lit by natural light through the windows, plants hanging from the ceiling and placed around the room on tables and shelves. Something with soft guitar is playing over the speakers. Kai pokes his head around the corner. The shop is seemingly empty.

“Yo,” he calls, pitching his voice up, “anyone here?”

“One moment!” comes a shout from the back. There's a thunk, like something shoved back onto a shelf, and footsteps come towards the front. Kai is looking up at the prices board over the counter when the shop owner appears, so he only sees a smudge of color from the corner of his eye. The florist stops beside him. “My name’s Cole, how can I help you today?”

Kai turns around. He blinks.

Cole is _jacked_. There's no other way to describe him. It's not like the lean muscle that Kai has, or even the six-pack that Lloyd’s smug over. His biceps look like he could crush Kai’s head with a flex.

This would be enough to make a lasting impression on Kai, but what's more is the way the guy is smiling at him. He’s got a dimple in each cheek. He’s got fluffy black hair on the top of his head. He's dressed in a pale blue t-shirt and baggy jeans that look like they're two years past their expiration date.

Kai realizes he's staring a moment too late and drags his eyes up to meet the other guy's eyes. “Hey, man,” he says, holding his hand out to shake. “I'm Kai. Your neighbor across the street.”

Cole takes his hand. “Kai,” he says, testing the name out on his tongue. “Yeah, I think I've seen you around before.” He grins at him. “You have the dojo, right?”

Kai finger guns him and immediately regrets it. Clearly, he's been spending too much time around his sister’s boyfriend. “That's me. Welcome to the neighborhood.”

Cole takes the offered popcorn, grin spreading wider. He doesn't have any obvious quirk features that Kai can see, but that doesn't mean anything. “Oh, sweet! That's so nice of you!”

“It's hard to buy someone you don't know a gift, but I figured food is always a safe bet.”

Cole laughs. His eyes scrunch up when he does. “You'd be right,” he says, laughter tinting his tone.

Kai finds himself grinning back. “Well, I've got to get back to the dojo, but feel free to pop by anytime. Lloyd- he's my useless employee- would love to meet you too.”

“I will,” Cole promises. He waves at Kai as he leaves the shop. Kai crosses the street, a bounce in his step.

They have a class with a group of 12-year olds in the afternoon, and by the end of the day Kai is ready to go home and do nothing for a year. He lets Lloyd leave first as he takes care of the last end-of-the-day things, locking up shop and racing to meet the next bus.

Home is a small apartment on the fourth floor of a complex on the city outskirts. Kai takes the elevator up. He walks through the door and immediately collapses into the couch.

Nya keeps her hand under the pan without looking up. “Hello, Kai,” she says. And then, in a stupider tone: “Why hello to you too, Nya, my lovely sister who's also been at work all day and is bothering to make me dinner like the saint she is, how are you doing?” She pitches her voice back to normal. “Oh, me? I'm doing fine, Kai, thanks for asking.”

Kai groans at her from his place smushed into the cushions. “Why bother asking when I know you're gonna tell me anyway?”

Nya smacks him with a towel as she goes past the couch. “Rude. Do you want dinner or not?”

“I'm up, I'm up,” Kai says. Groaning, he peels himself from the couch and digs out the plates and chopsticks. “I met the new neighbor today,” he says, placing them within her reach.

“Oh? The florist, right?”

“Yeah.” Kai wraps his hands with a towel before he takes the plate she hands him. He's learned that lesson the hard way one too many times. “His name’s Cole. I gave him popcorn from that one place in town.”

“That's a good gift,” Nya agrees. They take their meal to the couch, settling in beside each other. “Is he a nice guy?”

Kai shrugs. “Seemed fine. Oh, but the dude’s _jacked_.”

Nya laughs. “Jacked? The florist?”

“No, seriously! I'm pretty sure he could squish a watermelon like a grape.”

“Maybe it's his quirk,” Nya says. Her eyes are still shining with mirth. “Ha. A ripped flower boy. So he was swole, then? Stronk?”

Kai shoves her shoulder. “Knock it off. Those aren't even real words.”

Their conversation turns elsewhere after that, as Nya describes her workday and pours herself into a rant over some pin-brained hero and his prioritization of “the aesthetic, can you believe it? Dude wants to go around in _socks_ for his dumb aesthetic, I mean really!”

Kai is half-reclining on the couch by this point. “Isn't that your job, to make it possible for heroes to commit to their aesthetic?”

“Not when they complain that the soles of their tabi boots are too thick.”

Kai shifts so his tail isn't pinned beneath his entire body weight. “Just give him what he wants, then. If he wants to be an idiot, that's his own issue.”

Nya sighs. “You know that's how you get sued, right?” She’s clicking around on her phone, most likely checking her Chirp newsfeed. A second later she makes a noise.

“What is it?”

Nya clicks on something else. “There's another report of that new vigilante around here.” She holds out her phone for him to see. “He just broke up a robbery like a half-hour ago.”

Kai frowns as he scrolls through the hashtag. “Black Ninja?” he asks. Most of the posts are text, but there's a handful of blurry pictures of a figure dressed head-to-toe in black.

“That's what they're calling him. He does his thing and gets in and out of there before the police can arrive. Some people think he has a shadow-travel quirk.”

Kai hands her back her phone. “Nah, too obvious. If he had a quirk like that, he'd get into U.A. easily.”

“True.”

Kai shifts around on the couch. He tries to push the masked man out of his head, but the pictures don't leave his head even as Nya gets up to put _Smash Bros._ in.

Vigilantes relied on themselves and didn't have any support to back them up. They were one-man armies. Kai looks at his feet, propped up on the coffee table. He'd thought that way once, too.

But not anymore.

\---

“Woah,” is the first thing out of his mouth when Kai sees Cole a week later. “What happened to you? It looks like you got into a fight with a hailstorm.”

Cole rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. He's sporting an impressive bruise over his right eye, along with several more along his arms that mottle his skin with purple. “A hailstorm?” he asks, raising his eyebrow. A soft laugh escapes along with his words.

“Yeah, a hailstorm,” Kai says, huffing as he turns the florist around. “You know, because of the- the ice balls or whatever.” It looks like Cole is in good shape, despite the bruising, and Kai’s quills relax along his neck. “Seriously, dude, what happened?”

“Just another villain attack,” Cole says, waving his hand. Kai’s eyes trace its movement. It's a nice hand- big and strong with straight long fingers. “Really, I wasn't watching where I was going.”

Kai rolls his eyes. “Dummy,” he says. “Pay attention next time, yeah? It's not like those bozos are quiet about what they do.”

Cole laughs. “I will take your advice into consideration.”

They stand there for several seconds. For all intents and purposes their conversation is now over, and yet, Kai doesn't want to leave. From the looks of it, Cole doesn't want to either.

“Hey,” he says, haltingly. “Do you wanna maybe- coffee?”

Kai grins. “I don’t have a group until eleven. Coffee sounds great.”

“So why a dojo?” Cole asks, several minutes later. Drinks in hand, they walk aimlessly down the street.

Kai shrugs. “VIllains are getting bolder. Parents want their kids to know how to defend themselves, and I can teach them that.” The corner of his mouth quirks up. “Plus, the little brats aren’t half-bad. Don’t let Lloyd know I said that, though.”

Cole and Lloyd had met last week when the florist came into their dojo during the lunch break hour. Lloyd had been put off by the fact that Cole was buffer than he was, but quickly forgave him once he realized he’d brought noodles to share.

Cole laughs. “I’ll carry it to my grave,” he says easily.

Kai’s caught for a second watching him. He coughs, taking a sip of americano to hide his momentary lapse. “So why a flower shop?” he parrots back.

“I’ve always loved nature,” Cole says. “My mom had a gardening quirk- we always had fresh flowers in our kitchen. She used to take me to her greenhouse and show me all the tips and tricks for the plants. Said they could sense what you’re feeling.”

“Do you think that?”

Cole is silent for a moment. “Yeah, I do.”

They walk in silence for the rest of the trip, but it’s not bad. It’s less than bad. Kai is so used to Lloyd or Jay filling up every moment with their chatter, so the quiet is actually a welcome change of pace. They finish their drinks as they approach their respective businesses and pause, reluctant again to leave.

“Hey-” says Kai, fishing out his phone. “You should add your number. So if there’s ever any shop emergencies we can contact each other.”

“Yeah,” Cole says, looking confused even as he pulls out his phone too. “For ‘shop emergencies’?”

“Yeah,” says Kai. “Like, if you’re out of town and you want me to go water your plants or something.”  
  
Cole laughs. “I have someone for that already. Would you really, though?”

“Of course.” Kai presses his number into Cole’s phone. He holds it up to take a selfie. “You’re my friend now.”

“Oh,” says Cole. “Thanks. You’re my friend, too.”

Kai finger-salutes him. “Well. I’ll catch you later, then?”

Cole smiles. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”

\---

“So tell me about your stronk new neighbor.”

Kai shoves Jay off the table. The redhead goes down with a shriek and a crash of metal parts. “Hey!” he says indignantly. “What's that about?”

“That’s for being a bad influence on my sister,” Kai grumbles. “Stronk? Kids these days, with their dumb words and dumb slang.”

Jay squints at him. “I’m like two years younger than you.”

“Kids these days,” Kai repeats, raising his eyebrow in an unspoken challenge.

Jay rolls his eyes. “Sure thing, buddy.” He pops to his feet and resettles at the edge of his desk. “You never answered my question though. Is he hot?”

Kai shrugs. “How should I know?”

Jay levels him with an unimpressed stare. It's much better than his usual- he has to be getting pointers from Nya. “Kai, you're aro-ace, not blind.”

Kai frowns at him. The truth is- okay, yeah, Cole is _objectively_ hot. He's got like, dimples, and nice hands and wide shoulders- not to mention his big smile and soft heart. Just yesterday, Kai found him doing a one-person re-enactment of Hamlet for the plants in the back corner. He turned a hilarious shade of red once he realized Kai was watching.

He's gonna make a great husband or boyfriend or whatever for someone someday.

Just not for Kai.

Jay takes his silence as begrudging agreement, because he's a meddling menace and not at all because it is. A slow grin splits across his face. “He is!” he crows. “I knew it!”

“Knew what?” Nya asks, bumping open the door with her hip as she comes into the workshop. Three cups of coffee are balanced in her hands. “What did I miss?”

“Kai’s new neighbor is hot,” Jay says, jumping up to help her. They kiss, just a peck, and it's almost more disgusting than if they used tongue. “He just doesn't want to admit it.”

“We’ve been knew,” Nya intones.

“I swear you two are speaking a different language,” Kai says.

“It's culture, Kai,” Jay says. “You'd know it if you had any.”

“Did I just come here to get bullied?” Kai asks the room at large. “Because if so, I want my money back.” He makes as if to stand and leave the room. Nya rolls her eyes and wrangles him down again.

“Oh, shut up. You love us.” She passes him a coffee. “Happy?”

Kai takes a long sip. “Now I'm good.”

“Great,” Nya says. “Let's get started then. Kai, if you would?”

She holds up a piece of metal curved to look like a chest plate. Kai pierces straight through the center.

Jay grins. “This will be good.”

They spend the next hour or so like that, testing different material and ideas that the two support heroes come up with. Kai launches his quills at helmets and bodysuits and they cheer when he manages to pierce through something. This leads them into an excited conversation where they compare the merits of plate armor versus Kevlar.

Kai shakes his head. Support heroes. He'll never understand them.

\---

“No, you need to get higher.”

“I'm already as high as I can go!”

Kai steps forward, placing his hand on Lloyd’s hip. “No, you're not,” he says. “Get your knee up here first, before kicking out. Now try again.”

The dojo’s closed to the public, but Kai and Lloyd are still there going over the younger’s most recent drills together.

Lloyd collapses to the floor. Technically Kai should discipline him, but their relationship has never been the typical master-student one. So instead he just shoves Lloyd’s head over with his foot and sits down beside him.

“That was better,” he says. “Nice work.”

Lloyd groans. His hand flails in the air; rolling his eyes, Kai passes him his water bottle. Lloyd drinks, staring off into empty air. “Cole’s on his way over,” he says suddenly, sitting up. “Do you think he brought food this time?”

Kai whacks him on the head. “Stop thinking with your stomach,” he chides. “I swear, every other time you're with us you have one of us suckered into buying you popcorn chicken.”

“Please,” Lloyd grins. “You guys fall all over each other to buy me stuff.”

Kai whacks him again for good measure. The kid’s obviously touched in the head.

A knock comes at the door. They both look up. A moment later, Cole sticks his head in. “Hope I'm not interrupting anything,” he says, taking in the way Lloyd’s rubbing his head and glaring at Kai.

“We've been waiting for you,” Kai says. “Don't mind the kid. He's just fooled himself into thinking he's the next All Might.”

Cole joins them on the floor. “So naturally, you had to take him down a peg.”

“Naturally,” Kai says, grinning.

Cole laughs. “Well, I don't know if I can do anything about head trauma, but maybe this will make him feel better.” He holds up a plastic bag and takes a styrofoam container from it. A familiar smell fills the room.

“Skewers!” Lloyd shouts. He makes gimme-hands at the carton, humming in satisfaction as he opens it up.

Kai rolls his eyes. “You've just spoiled my lesson,” he complains good-naturedly. “He's never gonna stop asking you for food after this, you know. Better prepare your wallet.”

They split up the skewers, because an entire container like that is too much for any one person, no matter how Lloyd protests. Cole takes out his phone and fiddles with his screen. A steady beat starts playing- something hip hop this time. Cole and Lloyd stand and freestyle to it, laughing at the blond’s over-exaggerated attempts at popping.

“You wanna join?” Cole asks Kai. His smile could light up a city.

And Kai wishes he could. It's just the end of a long day and- “My knee,” he says, gesturing broadly at his lower half.

Cole looks down like he's just noticed the brace. To be fair to him, Kai's been in his gi all the times they've met before. His eyes widen. “Oh, shoot! Are you okay? What happened?”

Kai’s oddly touched by his concern. Still, he waves him off. “It's old,” he says. “Don’t worry. I'm usually fine, it's just the end of the day, you know?”

Cole still looks concerned.

“I’m fine,” Kai says again. “Besides, I like watching you guys.”

That makes Cole smile again. “Well,” he says. “We’ll be sure to put on a show for you.”

And they do. Kai laughs at their antics, especially when Cole pulls Lloyd in for a slow waltz, still going to the hip hop beat. His eyes follow Cole all the way around the room.

\---

Kai’s first run-in with the city’s local vigilante comes late one evening at the height of summer.

It’s around ten and he’s on his way back from the corner convenience store. His arms are loaded with ramen cups and his vision has never been the best to begin with- side effect of his quirk- so when something dark drops in front of him his first reaction is to shout and throw a cup.

The cup bounces harmlessly off the figure in front of him. In fact, Kai’s not even sure if they noticed it. He steps back as the person straightens up, but they don’t turn around. Something heavy clunks overhead. Kai’s head jerks in that direction. The figure in front of him doesn’t notice, still scanning the darkness in front of them.

“Look up!” Kai wants to shout, but before he gets the chance something big and purple is dropping from the roof and onto the person’s back. They stumble, nearly falling to the ground. The purple thing cackles. Something gleams in its hand. A knife.

It slices down. But before the blade meets its mark, the black figure is twisting, sliding out of the purple thing’s hold smooth as butter. Finally Kai gets a good look at them- it’s Black Ninja, because who else would it be? The vigilante’s fists are balled, but the purple thing, having lost its ambush advantage, squeaks and takes off in the opposite direction. Black Ninja gives chase.

Kai is left alone in the alley, twelve cups of ramen in his hands, a thirteenth laying a little ways away on the ground. He goes to pick it up and stumbles over something else- an airpod, painted black. When he holds it up to his ear, a hip hop beat plays for several seconds before stuttering out as it loses its connection.

Weird. Kai pockets it.

\---

Some days are harder than others. Kai wakes up one stormy morning and immediately knows that today will be one of those. His knee protests as he straightens it out and hobbles to the bathroom. He washes his face, forgoes brushing his teeth, and contemplates crawling back into bed before ultimately deciding against it.

His morning stretches take him double-long to do. He props himself up in the kitchen, leg spread across two chairs, and scrolls through his apps as he munches on dry cereal.

That's how Nya finds him a half-hour later. She takes in his position and makes a face as she edges around him towards the coffee. “Bad day?” she asks sympathetically.

Kai grunts. “I've had worse.”

Nya tsks. “You don't have to act tough for me.” She takes out their last chair and sits beside him. Kai steals some of her blackberries. “Hey.” He shrugs at her. She rolls her eyes. “Idiot.”

“That's me.” He takes in her clothes- a tank top and sweats- but is unable to tell if she's dressed up or not. “Are you going out today?”

Nya nods. “It's not mandatory, but Jay and I were planning to head into the workshop and get a head start on some of our orders.” Her face turns concerned. “We don't have to, though. I can call it off. He'd understand.”

Kai waves her off. “No, no, go have fun with your boyfriend. I'll be fine.”

Nya glances over him, obviously evaluating. Kai gives her his best unimpressed stare. In the end she does so, but not before checking on him twice and setting him up with the remote and a charger.

Kai slouches into the couch.

At least it's a Saturday, which means nothing on the schedule except for the weekly movie night at eight. The apartment is already tidied up for it- Kai and Nya always host because Jay’s place is a wreck and Cole is still new enough to the group that they won't force it on him. Zane’s been too busy with work to make them recently, and as funny as it would be to show up at his house unannounced, Kai doesn’t think he’d appreciate it.

Around six he gets up to reheat leftovers. His knee, thankfully, is feeling better at this point. Kai walks around with only a small twinge of pain. He takes a long shower, towels off, and picks out his clothes. By the time he's done with all that, noises are coming from the living room.

Kai grins. He steps out of his bedroom to find the group already gathered and spread out on the various couches and chairs they have. “Trying to start the party without me?” he asks.

“We were just waiting for you,” Cole says cheerily.

Jay waves at him from his place on the floor. “Yeah, Kai, stop being a slowpoke.”

“I know where you sleep,” Kai tells him. He flops down into the couch beside Cole. The florist winces at his arrival, but he tries to cover it up with a grin. Kai’s not fooled. He's given himself that same look in the mirror thousands of times before, and now he stares at Cole, unimpressed.

“Trip and fall over nothing again?”

Cole rubs the back of his neck. “Something like that?” he offers.

Kai shakes his head. “How are you not dead yet?”

“Believe me, I ask myself that same question every day.”

Kai's gaze drifts around the room. Jay and Nya are bickering with Lloyd, who somehow always gets invited to these things, about which movie to put on. Nya’s a big action fan, and Jay is an animation nerd, so between the two of them they have a lot of overlap. Lloyd loves campy films, however, and right now he's standing on the back of the couch hollering about Spider-Man 3.

“Not that one,” Cole groans. “I've been teased enough for that emo Peter dance scene already.”

“Really?” Like sharks sensing blood, Nya and Jay turn around with identical toothy grins. “Why's that?”

Cole is seeming to realize he's walked into a trap. “It's nothing.”

“No, tell us!” Jay whines. “Or else I'm gonna start to guess. You were an emo kid, weren't you.”

Cole flushes. Jay’s grin widens.

“You totally were!” he crows. “Oh my gosh, did you have the bang swoop? I bet you totally wore eyeliner.”

“Can we please start the movie?” Cole begs. “Someone? Anyone?”

Kai takes pity on him. “Hey, Cole," he says, waiting for everyone to shut up and listen to him. "Did you know that Jay shaved his eyebrows in high school?” He grins wider at the bark of laughter that startles from Cole. "He was trying to impress my sister."

Jay goes as red as his hair. “Kai!” he whines. “You promised not to tell anyone!”

Meanwhile, Nya is doubled over laughing with her hands pressed to her stomach. “That was for me?” she howls. “Jay, why?”

“I didn't tell anyone,” Kai says. “Just Cole.”

The second after he says it he realizes he should not have voiced that particular thought. Kai’s always had a bad habit of saying whatever comes into his head at any given moment, something his mother has tried and failed to train out of him. “Crap,” he blurts. “I didn't mean that you're like, no one, fu- dge, don't swear in front of the kid-”

“I'm not a baby!” Lloyd shouts. “Why do you guys keep acting like I've never heard a swear?”

“Baby,” Nya says solemnly, having recovered from her laughing fit.

“Baby,” Jay agrees, attempting to squish his cheeks. Lloyd scowls and shoves him off the couch.

But Kai's not paying attention to the three of them. His focus is on Cole, who, to Kai’s relief, doesn't look upset. In fact, Kai might go so far as to say he looks pleased. “No, I get what you mean,” he says with a laugh. “I'm glad you feel that comfortable around me.” He puts his arm around the couch. If Kai leaned back, they'd be touching.

Kai is suddenly aware of how close they're sitting. He scoots away, putting a respectable distance between them. His heartbeat is fluttering. He wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. What's happening to him? Is he gonna have a heart attack and die?

But the symptoms quiet down a moment later, just in time for the opening credits of How to Train Your Dragon to roll across the screen. Looks like Nya and Jay got their way.

Sometime during the part when Hiccup is fighting the Nightmare, Cole falls silent. Kai glances over and finds him with his eyes closed, mouth tilted open as he snores softly. It should not be as endearing as Kai finds it.

Jay glances over and makes a noise of protest. “Really? How in the world did he fall asleep through _this_?”

“Shhh!” Kai hisses. “Don't wake him!”

Cole mutters something in his sleep. His head lolls over onto Kai’s shoulder. He squishes down into the couch and stays there.

Kai isn't breathing. His brain has crashed and is failing to reboot. He's pretty sure this is what dying feels like. His heart wants to jump out of his chest.

Oh no. Oh no. Kai is having a _feeling_.

He wants to hold Cole’s hand and pet his hair and take him out to dinner- non-platonically. He wants to buy him dumb presents to make him laugh and bring him coffee in the mornings to see him smile. He wants to sit like this on the couch forever, talking about everything and nothing until they just can't stay awake any longer and drift off like Cole has now.

So maybe Kai’s not as aro as he thought.

\---

The obvious course of action would be to confront Cole, get his newly discovered _feeling_ off of his chest so it can go back into that comfortable friendship zone, maybe laugh it off later.

But that's what the government wants you to think.

Naturally, Kai is going to do the exact opposite.

“What do you do when you think you like someone, but you've never liked anyone before so you're not sure if what you're feeling is just some really strong friendship vibes or if you do actually want to hold their hand?”

“Sir,” says the kid behind the register, looking a little lost, “this is a Starbucks.”

Kai sighs. “I'll have an americano, thanks.” He takes his receipt and sits down at a table beside the window. Why is he at Starbucks. He doesn't even like Starbucks. This is what he gets for getting his coffee in town instead of at the family-owned coffee shop by the dojo.

But Cole goes to that shop too- they've met up there before, during lunch breaks or between classes- and the risk of running into him is too great. Kai lets his head clunk onto the table and regrets everything that's led him to this point in life.

Police sirens wail in the distance. A minute later, a fire truck comes barreling down the street. It swerves around the corner, lights flashing and cars pulling out of its path.

“What do you think’s going on?” he asks the barista, who's come to drop off his drink.

The man shrugs. He still looks wary of Kai, like he's one move away from busting bad poetry out at him. “Probably another robbery or something. It seems like there's one every other day at the rate it's going now.”

The explanation makes sense, but something still sits wrong about it in Kai’s gut. Something at the corner of his eye catches his attention. It's the tv across the room. The volume is down and Kai is too far away to see the subtitles, but he has a horrible feeling that the broadcast has to do with the sirens outside.

“Can you turn that up?” Kai asks.

“-we’re outside the hotel Jamanaki right now, where the entire building has gone up into flames! Families and first responders are standing outside of the building, which the police have deemed too unsafe to enter. But there are still many more people trapped inside!”

The camera pans up, revealing screaming people leaning out of the windows high up.

“The heroes are doing nothing about this situation. Will no one come to their rescue?” A group of heroes are standing near the entrance of the hotel. Kai recognizes some of them- there’s Mojo Dojo with his shapeshifting quirk, and Samur-AI with her technology quirk. “Oh, wait!” cries the newscaster, and the camera pans out. “Someone is attempting to enter the building!”

A figure dressed head-to-toe in all black pushes through the wall of heroes and reporters. He rushes through the fire, vanishing into the smoke.

Kai sits up, coffee forgotten.

The scene outside the hotel is pandemonium. Kai shoves his way through the crowd of civilians to the front. The heat is intense up there and the smoke stings his eyes. He squints through the pain, searching for the entrance. People around him shout and back up.

Black Ninja bursts from the flames, a person tucked under either arm. He deposits them with a medical responder and charges back inside, scarf tied tight around his nose and mouth.

Kai glances around, but no one is following him. They're all gathered around the rescued civilians, hovering over them uselessly when they could be useful by going inside. He sees red. Black Ninja appears once more, an elderly man slung over his back. He’s choking, hacking into his sleeve and swaying on his feet. Still, he stumbles back inside.

Kai can't take this anymore. “Someone’s got to help him!” He lunges forward, but someone catches him by his shirt sleeve. Kai whirls around, snarling. The officer, a small woman with dog ears, takes a step back.

“Sir, you can't go in there. The building is one wrong move from coming down!”

“So I can't, but he can?” Kai snaps. “He's a vigilante, not some second rate citizen!” He rips his arm from her grip. “He's in just as much danger as anyone else, maybe more!”

The woman says something else, but Kai can't hear her. He charges into the building, shirt collar pulled up and over his mouth and nose to guard against the smoke. Shouting takes him up the stairs and through a hallway, into a bedroom where two children are sobbing into the legs of their father. His face breaks out into relief when he sees Kai.

“Hey, I know you!” he says.

“Then listen to me,” Kai demands. He spares a glance around the room to check for integrity, then crouches down to look the kids in the eye. “Hey there,” he says. “We're gonna get you out of here, but you have to do exactly what I say, alright?”

The kids nod. Kai takes one of them into his arms and directs the father to do the same. They move out into the hallway, toeing the line between caution and haste as they descend the staircase and go for the door.

“It's right through there,” he says. “A couple more steps and then you're safe.”

A ripping sound. Kai looks up and throws the kid aside. A beam is loosening from the ceiling above their heads. He sends three sets of quills into the wood, pounding the beam back in place, and jerks the family out of the building.

Black Ninja is right there. They smash into each other’s chests and bounce off, knocked to the ground. The family goes running past them.

Kai recovers first, wobbling to his feet and extending his hand for the other. “Black Ninja,” he says. “Do you know how many more are in there?”

Black Ninja is staring at him with wide eyes. “Kai?” he asks. His eyes go wider the moment the words leave his mouth.

Kai has no time to discover how this vigilante knows his name. “Focus,” he snaps. “Are there any more civilians trapped inside?”

Black Ninja comes back to himself. “No,” he says. “You got the last ones out.”

“Then why were you heading back in?”

“There was something I thought I saw earlier. I need to check it out.”

Kai frowns. “Is it important?”

“If it is what I think it is, yes.”

Kai nods. “I'll come with you.”

They enter the building together, coughing lightly, unable to cough harder. The beam that Kai secured earlier has fallen again, and Black Ninja shoves it out of the way. Kai takes a second to admire his sleeves, bursting with muscle.

“Work out much?” he asks jokingly.

Black Ninja stares at him.

“Right, dumb question,” Kai says. “So what are we looking for?”

Black Ninja kicks the last pieces of smoldering wood aside. “This.”

Kai looks where he's looking. What in the world? Burned into the center of the floor is a lunging snake, mouth gaping wide and fangs dripping with venom. It's very clearly the calling card of someone.

That's important. That's gotta be important. Kai’s gonna take a picture of it, he's gonna find his phone, he's gonna- he's gonna take a nap for a moment. Yeah. That sounds good.

  
  
  
  
  


“Kai? Kai!”

  
  
  
  


“Stay with me, man!”

  
  
  
  


“Kai.”

  
  
  
  
  


Kai wakes up to blank walls and a white ceiling.

His first thought is that he must have overworked his knee again. He tries to move his legs, despite the fact that doing so should light his knee up like a Christmas tree. But there's none of that pain he's come to associate with torn ligaments or the like.

He flops back into bed. Not his leg, then. But if it's not for his leg, why’s he here?

The answer comes to him soon after. There's noise in the hallway outside- voices raised loudly- and a second later the door to his room bursts open with the force to knock the one lonely painting off the wall.

“What were you thinking?” Nya shrieks. She crosses the room in three swift strides, ignoring the futile attempts by the hospital aides to temper her down. “Kairon Ashton Smith, why did I have to get a call from Zane at two-thirty in the afternoon letting me know my _brother_ has been taken to the hospital! For hero work! I thought you were done with this crap after what happened last time!”

“Nya!” Kai yelps. “I'm fine! See? I'm great! The doctors fixed me right up!”

“That doesn't excuse the fact that you're in here in the first place!” She's standing by his bedside now, practically quivering with fury.

“Nya,” Kai says, “I'm okay. I'm okay, I promise. It's not like last time.”

Nya’s face screws up. She bursts into tears. Kai, alarmed, reaches out to touch her, but she jerks back from him. “No, you don't get to comfort me!” she sobs. “I'm still so upset with you, Kai!”

Kai waits a moment. Carefully, he rests a hand on her shoulder. Nya collapses into him, shaking.

“See?” comes Jay’s voice from the doorway. The redhead makes his way into the room, pausing once to take a piece of metal from the table tray. “He's fine. It would take more than a little fire to get rid of Kai.”

“That was more than a little fire,” Nya says, but she pulls back, eyes shiny but no longer crying as hard. “You could have died.”

Kai frowns. “Yeah, but if I hadn't gone in, civilians would have.”

Silence starts to descend. It's quickly broken by the sound of someone else running up the corridor.

“I'm here!” Cole comes bursting into the room, hair dripping and shirt damp. “They said he's awake?”

“I'm here,” Kai says, grinning despite himself. He hasn't seen Cole in nearly a week, and now that he's here he can't remember why he was avoiding him in the first place. “You're soaked!” he says. “Did you come straight here from the swimming pool?”

“Cole was in the shower when I called him,” Jay says, snickering. “Who the heck showers at two?”

Cole drops into the chair by Kai’s bed. This close, his shirt does nothing to hide his chest. Kai can see his pectorals through the thin white fabric, practically transparent from the water.

Kai's mouth goes dry. Oh yeah. That's why he was avoiding him.

Can someone catch me up to date on what exactly happened?” he asks instead. “I think I've got most of it, but everything's a little fuzzy in here still.” He knocks against the side of his head with his knuckles.

“It was a hotel called Jamanaki,” Cole says. His voice sounds haunted when he speaks. “The place burnt to the ground, but police don't know why. It's not like there were any important people there that they know of.”

Kai shrugs. “Sometimes villains do things without motivation,” he says. But something about that statement seems wrong to him. There's something he can't remember, something just out of reach in his head.

“Did we save them all?” he asks instead.

“The two of you got most of them out,” Jay says. His hands fly across his lap, pinching and twisting wires. “But the ones before Black Ninja showed up…”

He trails off. No one needs him to finish the thought.

Kai clenches his fist against the bedsheets. “It's my fault,” he says. “I heard the sirens, but I didn't check them out. If I'd been quicker, they might not have died.”

“That's not your job anymore,” Nya says fiercely. “Running in without backup is what got you where you are now in the first place.”

“I know that, Nya,” Kai snaps. “But you weren't there. No one else was doing anything! Like it or not, I still feel that responsibility!”

“Why would that be your responsibility?” Cole asks. He looks genuinely confused.

Kai blinks back at him. “Because I'm a pro-hero?”

Cole stares at him. “You're a pro-hero?” he asks, face draining of color.

“Well, I used to be,” Kai amends. “I got out of the industry a couple of years ago.” He squints at Cole. “You seriously didn't know? I mean, I wasn't Top Ten or anything, but I definitely broke fifty.”

“I didn't know,” Cole says. His face is still unnaturally pale. “Did you, uh, happen to know the hero who worked with you today?”

“Black Ninja’s a vigilante, not a hero,” Kai corrects absently. He refocuses his gaze on Cole. “Yeah, I know him. We’ve bumped into each other a couple of times.” He frowns. “He’s okay at what he does, but it’s obvious he’s never been properly trained.”

Cole sucks in a breath. “I need to go,” he says abruptly, standing up so fast his chair falls over sideways. “I, uh, just remembered I left my shower on.” He turns around, almost barreling into the chest of the doctor who’s just stepped through the door. “Sorry,” he mumbles, pushing past him.

“You're alright,” Zane says, watching him go.

Kai blinks after his retreating form. What did he say wrong? Why did Cole take off like that? He glances at Jay, but the redhead is absorbed by his project and doesn't look up.

“Zane,” Nya says warmly. “It's good to see you again. Thank you for patching up my idiot brother.”

Zane smiles. He’s dyed his hair since the last time Kai saw him, and now it's a silvery gray instead of the blond Kai was used to. “Of course,” he says. “Though I would have preferred our reunion to have happened on different terms.” This is punctuated with a pointed look towards Kai.

Kai groans and flops back into his bed. “Alright,” he says, waving his hand. “Hit me with your lecture.”

Jay pats his chest sympathetically and presses a wind-up frog into his hands.

\---

“Hey, Cole!” Kai calls.

Cole keeps his head down as he walks across the other side of the street. Kai's hand hovers in the air in an aborted wave. A second later the other man steps inside his shop, closing the door behind him.

Kai stares after him, confused. Alright. Maybe he didn't hear him. He shrugs and goes inside the dojo.

\---

“Hey, Cole!” Kai shouts.

He drops the apples he's looking at with a thunk and takes a step towards the other man. Cole glances over his shoulder. His eyes narrow. Don't you dare, Kai thinks, and then the other man is bolting for the grocery store door.

Never one to be beaten, Kai gives chase. He gets stalled by a worker before he gets through the first set of doors, who gives him an unimpressed look and a ‘sir, were you planning on buying these items?’

Kai shoves the basket into his hands. When he runs out onto the streets, Cole has vanished.

\---

Hey! Cole!” Kai says.

Cole gives him a deer in the headlights look from where he's caught, red-handed, a Starbucks cup to his mouth. They stare at each other for several long seconds.

“This is my Starbucks,” Kai says.

Cole bolts.

Kai looks at the drink in his hand and suddenly doesn’t want it anymore.

\---

“He hates me. He hates me and I don't know why.”

Kai slouches on the surface of the table, head resting on his arms. Above him, Zane makes a conciliatory noise. He sets a plate down beside Kai and, lacklusterly, Kai begins to dry it.

It’s just after dinner and they're doing the dishes together because Zane’s the type of person who has to help with the chores no matter where he is (Nya’d stuck her finger in the cold water and declared her part done). He’s always been like this, for as long as Kai’s known him, even back when they were just intern and sidekick at Farsight’s Agency. His altruism is sometimes disgusting.

Zane hums. “He's the strong one? With black hair?”

That’s the other thing that Kai loves about Zane. The doctor takes his words into stride and doesn’t immediately dismiss them. He takes Kai seriously. Kai’s so used to playing the big brother in his friend group that he forgets what it’s like to be younger than someone. Zane doesn’t let him forget it when he’s with him.

Kai sighs. “Yep. Cole. The one who ran into you. I think I said something to offend him- it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done that, let’s be real- but now he won’t even look in my direction.”

“Have you tried talking to him?”

“What part of ‘won’t look in my direction’ makes you think he wants to talk to me?”

“What about a peace offering?”

“Already tried that too.” Kai sighs. “Seriously, I’m running out of ideas. What else is there?” He passes Zane a plate when he asks for it. “He won’t talk to me. He won’t answer my texts. I don’t want to just let him go.”

Zane frowns. “Would it be the end of the world?” Kai stares at him, incredulous. “No, listen to me,” he says. “Kai, if you’re trying to fix your friendship and he’s unwilling to, it might be better to step back for a while. You have plenty of other friends. Cole doesn’t have to be special.”

“But I don't want to hold any of their hands,” Kai says petulantly.

Zane stops, mid-scrub at the bottom of a pan. “Kai,” he says, tentatively, like he’s scared of spooking Kai off. Joke’s on him, because Kai doesn’t think he can feel such baseline human emotions such as fear anymore. “Do you- do you have _feelings_ for Cole?”

Kai drops his head onto the table. “Noooo,” he says into his elbow.

The water cuts off. A moment later, Zane settles into the chair beside him. “Kai,” he says.

“No,” Kai says.

“Kai.”

“I don’t have feelings,” Kai hisses. “I don’t do crushes. No one has a crush on me. I’m too strong to be crushed.”

“So you have a crush on Cole,” Zane summarizes.

Kai says nothing. Because that’s the truth, isn’t it? As much as he’s tried to ignore it, as much as he’s tried to shove his _feeling_ back into the comfortable zone of friendship, it’s not going away.

“I’m aromantic and mostly ace,” he says. “Maybe demi. I don’t know, it hasn’t happened enough for me to tell. The point is- I don’t get crushes. I don’t do _feelings_. I’ve always been great with friendships! Friends are great! I- don’t- get why I’m suddenly like this. I haven’t been faking it!”

Zane is silent for a long moment. It’s not a judgmental silence, and after a hesitation Kai lets himself relax into it.

“If you don’t think you’ve been faking it,” Zane begins, “then you haven’t been faking it.” He pauses. “You know- things like this are fluid, right? Just because you’re in love with-”

Kai physically recoils.

“Just because you’re interested in Cole romantically,” Zane amends, “doesn't mean that you’re suddenly not aro anymore. Maybe you’re grayromantic. Or maybe you’re right and this is all a fluke.”

“It’s not a fluke,” Kai says. “It’s gone on for far too long for it to be a fluke.”

“Then I think you should try talking to him,” Zane says. “Make him listen,” he adds, when Kai’s about to interject. “You’re very persuasive when you want to be, Kai. You can make him listen.”

Kai smiles slightly. “Heh, remember that time I convinced you to ask Pix out? You were pining over her so bad, I thought you were gonna astral project while sewing me up and stitch my foot to my arm or something.”

“And didn’t that turn out well?” Zane asks. Standing, he pats Kai on the shoulder. “Think about it,” he says. “You’re never going to feel right until you get this off your chest.”

Kai sighs. “You’re right. I’ll try to talk to him tomorrow.”

\---

“Cole, we need to talk.”

Cole puts down his water bottle. “Yeah, we do.”

They stand across from each other, regarding. Cole is in overalls and Kai is in his gi. Leaves tumble down around their heads, the only movement between their mannequin-still bodies. Noise seems to fade away the longer they stare.

“I don’t know why you’re avoiding me,” Kai bursts. “But every time I see you now you’re running away from me. I know I’m not making this up. Did I do something? I honestly don’t know!”

Cole sighs. He crosses his arms. “It’s not like you weren’t avoiding me first,” he says. He smiles dryly at Kai’s expression. “You think I didn't notice either? How suddenly you’re never around after your classes, or to get lunch, or even answering my texts? If the movie nights weren’t at your place, I’m sure you’d be skipping out on those too!”

“I had- things- on my mind,” Kai bites out.

“That’s not a good excuse and you know it.” Cole sighs again. “Look, Kai- how you feel is how you feel. I guess I can’t change that. But I have a lot of crap going on in my life right now, and I don’t have the time to be assessing my relationship with you. If that’s how you feel about me- fine. Just tell me to my face instead of making underhanded comments next time.”

Kai doesn’t think he’s breathed in the last minute. Cole knows. Cole knows and he hates him.

This is the part where Kai should laugh it off. He should make some joke and play it off, and they can go back to being friends and pretending his _feeling_ doesn’t exist. That’s what he should do. But why does he feel like he’s just been punched in the stomach?

Kai grits his teeth. This- this indecision, this nervousness- this is Jay behavior. Kai does not tolerate Jay behavior. So he pastes a smile onto his face and claps Cole on the back. “Alright, man. Sorry about that. It never happened, alright?”

Cole stares at him, and then at his retreating hand. “What?”

“We’re _friends_ ,” Kai says, emphasizing the second word. “We’re friends, okay?”

“We’re friends,” Cole repeats. “Okay. Okay.”

They hug. It’s awkward.

After that, things sort of go back to normal. They do the same things now, like having coffee together or watching movies, but their conversation is just a little stilted. There are long gaps of silence, and not the good kind.

It’s my fault, Kai thinks, watching Cole’s retreating back after yet another off-kilter coffee meeting. I messed everything up.

Kai can do danger. Kai can do villains. Kai can even do friendship drama.

But what Kai can't do is feelings.

\---

It's three-thirty in the afternoon when the sirens go off.

Kai, halfway through demonstrating a kata, sighs and drops his stance.

“Do you want me to go check it out?” Lloyd asks.

Kai shakes his head. “No, stay here and guard the kids. It's probably just some petty bank robbery again.” He gives the students a look. “I'll be back in a minute. You're going to do whatever boosabum-nim Lloyd tells you, understand?”

“Yes, Sabum-nim!” they chorus.

Kai steps outside. People rush past him, most heading away from the source of the noise but a few stragglers running towards it. Kai joins them. A small crowd has gathered in a ring near the town center. Kai can see the uniforms of policemen between the gaps in bodies. He pushes through the crowd towards the front.

“What’s going on?” he demands.

“It's Strikedown’s debut battle!” says a kid beside Kai. “He’s gonna beat up that villain!”

A girl in an orange-yellow jumpsuit is standing in the center. She has no obvious quirk features. A man in silver armor stands opposite to her, smirking. Lightning dances off his fingers. The crackling can be heard from where Kai is.

The kid cheers. “I can't believe I'm seeing it live!”

Kai watches the fight critically. Strikedown is a new hero, fresh out of school. He's all bluster and no skill, evident by the way he throws his power this way and that with no precision or control. It's equally obvious that the girl is just toying with him.

Strikedown lunges. The girl steps easily out of his way. She slaps her bare palm against his back as he stumbles past her.

“Hey!” shouts Strikedown. “Get back here!”

The girl lifts her hand. Silvery-blue lightning springs from her fingers. “You wanna say that again?” she taunts.

“Quirk stealer!” someone screams.

The girl grins. She pounces at Strikedown as her teeth lengthen and her shadow splits away. Five- ten- twenty more quirk features manifest around her body.

The situation has suddenly become real. Police who’ve been lacklusterly holding the crowd back now jump into action, forming a strong perimeter. Kai is jostled from all sides as he's pushed to the very front of the ring, people pressed together as they all try to flee the scene. The secondary sirens ring out, raising the situation from danger level to emergency.

“Everyone, stay back!” shouts an officer.

Screams erupt from the crowd. There’s a commotion in the ring across from Kai.

“Watch that man!”

Someone jumps into the center. It's Black Ninja.

Both of the fighting parties pause when they see him. The quirk-stealer girl studies him, evaluating. She turns her back on Strikedown as she approaches Black Ninja.

“Come to join the fight?” she asks, a grin splitting across her face. “I’ve seen you around here before. Please be more fun than that guy.” Her body ripples and Strikedown steps straight through her form. His momentum carries him out of the ring. Neither of them bother to look.

“Don’t worry,” Black Ninja grunts, “I will be.”

He lunges forward, and at the last moment drops to the ground and sweeps out his leg. The quirk-stealer girl just manages to turn her feet intangible. “Nice,” she says. Vines punch through the concrete beneath their feet. “My turn!”

The vines writhe towards Black Ninja. He waits until they’re nearly at his feet before taking a running leap, bouncing neatly off the plants and rolling into an airborne somersault. The quirk-stealer girl takes a step backward as he lands. Black Ninja unloads a flurry of punches at her. She dodges some and turns intangible for others.

He needs a distraction, Kai thinks desperately. He pushes past the policeman in front of him so he’s directly in their line of view. “Hey!”

The quirk-stealer girl looks at him automatically. Black Ninja meets his eyes. Kai nods. Something flashes in the vigilante’s eyes. His hand closes around her neck, around the scarf lying there.

The quirk-stealer girl freezes. Slowly, unnaturally, her head spins around to look Black Ninja in the face. “You caught me.”

The scarf around her neck unties. It falls from her neck and she takes a step back. She’s breathing heavily, but there’s still a smile on her face. “Well, it seems like that’s my cue. Thanks for playing, boys!”

The police rush for her, having just realized what’s happening. Before they can lay a hand on her, her body is liquifying and running down the drain.

In all the chaos, they don’t see Black Ninja and the way he’s inching his way out of the crowd. But Kai sees. He pushes through the people, eyes glued to the vigilante’s retreating form.

“Black!” he shouts. “Hey! You!”

The vigilante breaks into a sprint. Kai breaks free of the crowd and chases after him. Black Ninja leads him into an alley, footfalls a rhythmic thud against the cracked asphalt.

“Black!” Kai pulls out a move he hasn’t used in over two years- he takes hold of a quill at the back of his neck, lengthens it, and snaps it off. He throws it perpendicularly into the building beside him, taking a running leap, and springs off it to land in front of the vigilante. His knee shouts at him, but Kai’s running on too much adrenaline to notice.

“Black-” he says again, but the vigilante rips off his face mask and spins to face him.

“What, Kai?” Cole demands. “What do you want from me?”

Kai’s steps falter. “What?” he stutters. “Cole- what? _You’re_ Black?”

“Yeah,” Cole says. His face is flushed and his eyes are hard. Kai can’t take his eyes off him. Cole sets his hands on his hips. “Why are you acting like this is news to you?”

Kai blinks at him. “Uh, because it is?” He knows his voice is rising dangerously, but he can’t help it. “You never told me!”

Cole’s mouth drops open. “But- in the hospital, after Jamanaki. You said you knew me!”

“I’d seen you around before!” Kai shouts. “I knew about you! I didn't know who you were!”

“Well, could you have made that a little clearer?”

“I didn’t know I needed to, because you didn’t tell me!”

“Police!” someone shouts. “Who’s in there?”

Kai freezes. So does Cole. So this is the consequence of shouting. Officers stand in the mouth of the alleyway, flashlights shining into the darkness. One of them makes a noise of surprise when he sees Cole.

“There he is! You're that vigilante who's been giving us so much trouble.”

Cole jerks his mask back on. It’s a futile action. Police swarm them, quirk-suppressor cuffs in their hands. The lead officer nods at Kai when he recognizes him; it’s a small section of the city and Kai is well-established as the local taekwondo master. People trust him with their kids.

“Nice work, Smith,” he says, clapping him on the back. “We’ve been trying to catch this one for a while. Alright!” he calls to the rest of his men. “Let’s get him back to headquarters.”

He steps back out of the alley, most likely to start arrangements. The other officers jump to their assignments. They slap the cuffs on Cole’s wrists and empty his pockets. Kai sees a familiar earbud container. They set him down again.

Cole stares at him from the ground, betrayal shining in his eyes. No. This can’t be happening. Kai refuses to let this be the end of him. Before he knows what he’s doing, his hands scrabble for a card he hasn't touched in two years.

“Officer!” he shouts. “Wait!” One of the policemen turns around. Kai shoves the license in front of his face. “Pro-hero Draquillion,” he says. “This man is my sidekick. I had him working as an underground informant, which is why you wouldn’t have heard of him before.”

The man takes the license. “This says you're retired,” he says dubiously.

Kai sniffs. “I still have my teaching license, don't I?” He waits as the officer turns over the card in his hands. In reality, Kai’s license is just for training students back at his dojo. He prays the man doesn't look too closely. “So you'll let my sidekick go, then.”

Finally, the man hands the license back. “It looks in order,” he says, regretfully, like he’s sad that he can’t cart Cole off in chains. Kai wants to punch him in the face. “I’ll let the captain know. Keep him out of trouble next time,” he says. “That woman was a quirk-copier.” Like Kai hadn’t figured that out already. “That’s not a job for a rookie to be messing with.”

Cole bristles. Kai shoots him a warning glare. “He understands, Officer. Don't you, Black Ninja?”

“Fine,” Cole bites out.

The officers take off his cuffs. They step back and let him stand. Cole brushes the dirt off his clothes, glaring when they come too close. They retreat from the alley, leaving Kai and Cole alone.

Cole opens his mouth. Kai shushes him. “That won't hold them for long,” he says. “We need to get out of here before the chief of police realizes that my license isn't for sidekicks.”

They wind through the backstreets, ending up in the alley behind the dojo. Cole strips of his outerwear. Underneath, he's dressed in joggers and a tee shirt.

“So,” Kai begins. Now it's Cole's turn to cut him off.

“What were you thinking?” he snarls. Kai, taken aback, snaps back.

“I was saving your ungrateful hide, what did you think I was doing? You can say thank you, by the way. It's because of me that you're not going to jail.”

“Thank you?” Cole's face is incredulous. “Kai, do you know what you've just done?”

“Saved your ungrateful hide?” Kai echoes.

Cole growls. “You just painted a target on your back, you idiot! This is bigger than some street gang. The Anacondrai are Ninjago City’s most dangerous villain faction.”

“I'm a pro-hero, Cole,” Kai says, rolling his eyes. “I've dealt with villains before.”

“You don't get it. They aren't just ‘villains’. Rumor has it on the streets that they’ve figured out how to copy quirks and transfer them to other quirk-holders, even the quirkless.”

“Is that you?”

“Me?”

“Are you quirkless?” Kai crosses his arms. “Because I've known you nearly half a year now, and not once have I seen you use it.”

“I have a quirk.”

“What is it, then?”

Cole mutters something under his breath.

Kai stares. He can't have heard that correctly. “Run that by me again.”

“It's dance, alright?” Cole bursts. “I can dance perfectly to any beat I hear, any style, any rhythm. I had a scholarship to Marty Oppenheimer for crying out loud, before I gave it up to come here.”

Kai sees red. “You mean to tell me you're going into situations like this with no backup, with a _dancing quirk?_ ” All the quills on the top of his head are standing up now. They quiver with his need to lash out, attack something and let these _feelings_ out of his chest.

“I've been doing alright so far, haven't I?”

Kai scoffs. “So far! You’re not trained properly! I bet you've never taken a hero course in your life!”

Cole rolls his eyes. “Wow, Kai, I'm glad to see you care.”

“Of course I care, you idiot,” Kai sneers. “What happens when you face a villain with a real battle quirk? You have no support! No backup! Do you know where that gets you?” He stomps up into Cole’s face and gestures aggressively at his legs. “Right where it got me! Did you know I was on track to become one of the youngest heroes in the top twenty?” He laughs at Cole’s dumbfounded look. “But do you know what happened? I thought I could do it all on my own. I thought I didn't need anyone’s help. I went against a villain I had no right to go against and nearly was paralyzed.”

He's breathing heavy at the end of this rant, hands braced on his thighs, half-bent over. “I don't want you to get hurt,” he finishes, straightening up. “Of _course_ I care.”

Cole is staring at him. In the last minute, Kai doesn't think he’s twitched a muscle. They’re caught frozen, mere inches apart, practically breathing the same lungfuls of air.

Kai's not sure who moves first. But suddenly they're pressed up against each other, arms wrapped around each other's backs, clutching like they never plan on letting go. Kai buries his head into Cole’s shoulder. Cole’s fingers dig into the back of his shirt. They stand there, shaking with repressed sobs, and yet at this moment Kai feels the calmest he's felt in probably months. He grips Cole back.

It's several minutes before they finally pull away. Cole’s face is blotchy from crying, and Kai’s sure his isn't much better. “Kai- I-” he starts, but Kai waves him off with his hand.

“Save it,” he says. Today has already been entirely too emotionally honest for his liking. He doesn’t think he can handle what will happen if Cole says what he thinks he’ll say. “Now’s not the time.”

Cole nods. He wipes his face with his arm. “Okay. Later then.”

Kai notices something. He seizes Cole’s arm, uncaring of the tears smeared there, and gently presses open his fingers. A scrap of yellow-orange is balled up in his fist.

Cole stares at it. “I forgot I still was holding that.” He unballs the fabric carefully, spreading it out. It's a kerchief, stained and dusty. Cole rubs his nail against one of the caked-on splatters. “Wow, this is nasty.”

Excitement’s slowly spilling through Kai’s veins. He grins, wide and slow. “Yo, Cole. Do you know what this means?”

“Uh-?”

Kai turns his grin towards him. He takes the fabric from Cole and folds it carefully, tucking it beneath his arm. “I'll tell you. But let's take this inside.”

They enter the dojo through the backdoor. Lloyd is waiting inside, sitting alone at the front desk. He's got his phone out, one earbud popped into his right ear.

“Close down shop, kid,” Kai calls to him. The boy glances up. His eyes widen at the sight of them.

“What happened to you two?” The earbud cord pulls from his phone; the tinny sound of a newscaster enters the air. He stands up to do as Kai said. “I heard the secondary sirens. The news is all confused and no one knows what’s really going on. Was there a fight? Did you see it? Why are your faces all red?”

Kai switches the sign on the window from open to closed. “Just wait a minute,” he complains. “I can't think through all those questions at once, let alone answer them.” He glances around the empty dojo. “Where did all the kids go?”

“Back home with their parents.” Lloyd settles down on the mat in the center of the room. “So what happened?”

Kai sits down across from him. After a moment, Cole does the same. Kai leans forward, cracking his knuckles. “Alright. Prepare yourself, kiddo, because what I'm about to tell you is gonna blow your mind. Cole is-”

“Oh-” Lloyd says. “Black Ninja. Yeah, I knew that already.”

Kai gapes at him. Cole chokes on air. “You knew?” he squeaks.

Lloyd smirks back, smug. “I figured it out a while ago, actually.”

“How in the world did you figure that out?” Kai protests. “ _I_ couldn't figure it out, and I've worked with him before!”

Lloyd looks suddenly uncomfortable, like he realized the consequences of his boasting. “Uh, can I just say it was a lucky intuition?”

“Lloyd.”

“Fine!” Lloyd scowls at him. He sobers as he looks up at Cole. “I see ghosts,” he says softly. “It's a combination of my parents’ quirks. I, uh, figured you out after Jamanaki.”

Cole stills. So does Kai. “I’m sorry,” Lloyd splutters, earlier cockiness gone. “I shouldn’t have said anything, just forget everything I’ve said in the last five minutes-”

Cole lays a hand on his arm. “It’s okay, Lloyd. I’m not upset.”

Lloyd nods like he doesn’t believe him, but some of the tension in his shoulders relaxes.

“There was a fight earlier,” Kai tells him. “That was the sirens we heard. There was a girl with a quirk-stealing quirk-”

“Quirk-copying,” Cole interjects.

“-and Cole took this scarf from her,” Kai finishes. “I think it can lead us to where they’re hiding.”

“Really?” Cole asks.

Kai nods. “But we’ll need some more help. We need to have a meeting,” he says. “All of us,” in case Cole didn’t pick up on what he was laying down. “Jay and Nya deserve to know too.”

Reluctantly, Cole nods. “Can I bring my doctor?” he asks.

\---

“ _You’re_ his doctor?”

Zane smiles. Besides that, he shows no reaction to Kai gawking at him like he’s grown a second head. “I am.”

They’re standing in the doorway to Nya and Jay’s workshop. The pair of them are already inside with Lloyd, and Kai and Cole were waiting by the door to greet Cole’s doctor. Who, apparently, is none other than Kai’s doctor too. What in the actual-

Kai opens and closes his mouth. Beside him, Cole’s face has gone pale. “You know Kai?”

“I do,” Zane says, looking way more amused than he has the right to be. “It’s good to see you again, both of you. It’s been a while, Cole, but I think that's a good thing.”

Cole laughs awkwardly. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Kai can’t take it anymore. “Excuse us,” he says, hauling Zane aside before anyone can protest. “Did you know who I was talking about, that night?” he hisses.

“I had my suspicions,” Zane admits. “That's not why I urged you to confess, though.”

“It wasn't a confession,” Kai says. “Apparently, it was a hot mess of misunderstandings.”

Zane shrugs. “But it had you talking again,” he says. “And look where you are now. I would say it served its purpose.”

Begrudgingly, Kai has to agree. “Fine. But I’m still not happy with you.”

“I can live with that.”

Kai huffs. “So how did you two even meet?”

“I found him bleeding out in an alleyway,” Zane says. “He was very stubborn initially and refused my help.” He gives Kai the side-eye. “It was quite reminiscent of someone else I know.”

Kai scowls at him. “I learned my lesson, didn’t I?”

“In any case, I took him back to my apartment and cleaned him up and gave him my number for emergencies. He’s come back several times since. We’ve become friends.” Zane pauses. “Why so many of my friendships are built on patching up people for free is a mildly-concerning issue I should look into later.”

“You patch him up for free?” Kai complains. “Why don’t I get mine for free?”

Zane rolls his eyes. “Kai, you’re on the government subsidy. You’re part of that list.”

“Whatever.”

“Are you two done?” Nya asks. “I’d like to know why we’ve called this meeting at seven o’clock on a weeknight.”

“It’s because of me,” Cole says. Kai has to sit down, but he keeps his eyes on the other man. Cole takes a deep breath. “I’m Black Ninja,” he says abruptly. “And- what are you doing?”

Jay pauses in the middle of handing Nya two ten-thousand won notes. “Nothing.”

“Did you bet on him being Black Ninja?” Kai asks incredulously. Everyone in the room exchanges glances, sorta shrugging. “Seriously? Was everyone aware of this except for me?”

“Looks like it, yeah,” Lloyd says.

Kai scowls at him. “Why are you even here?”

“Because my mom said my other habit of playing Minecraft until five in the morning ‘wasn’t a healthy pastime’, apparently. It’s not my fault the dogs are so cute.”

“Can we get back on topic,” Nya drawls, now twenty-thousand won richer. “Cole’s Black Ninja, we’ve been knew.”

“Would you stop saying that!”

“Anyways,” Cole says loudly. “There was a quirk-copier in the middle of the streets earlier today. I have reason to believe she’s part of the Anacondrai, a villain faction that deals with the illegal distribution of quirk drugs."

“Cole took this off of her,” Kai says, holding up the scarf. “Jay, I thought that you could do your sciency-analysis on it.”

“Gotcha,” Jay says, taking the scrap of fabric. “There’s some sort of dust all over it. Give me an hour and I can figure out where it's from.”

“Great,” Cole says.

Jay sizes Cole up. “And you’ll be wanting some real gear, I’m sure. What’s your quirk?”

“It’s dance,” Cole says. Then the rest of the sentence seems to register with him. “Wait, what? Why?”

“For when you go to break the baddies up,” Jay says. “Am I understanding this correctly? The entire point of this meeting is finding their hideout so you can go in and catch some crooks, right?”

“Right,” Cole says, still looking a bit lost. “But support gear takes days to make, let alone perfect. We don’t have the time for that. I’m good with what I have, really.”

Jay waves his hand. “Nah, I’ll have you something whipped up in a few hours. It’s all gucci.”

He leaves the room, mumbling beneath his breath.

"I'll be leaving now, too," Zane says, standing to collect his jacket. He slips it over his broad shoulders and tugs it into place. "I wish you the best of luck for your endeavor."

"You sure?" Kai asks, walking with him to the door. "The more the merrier."

"I'm sure," Zane says, laughing. "Fighting isn't for me. I think I'll stick to cleaning up after your messes." He fixes Kai with a look that's far too fond. "You've come a long way," he says, voice softer. "Teamwork is a good look on you."

"Bye, Zane!" Jay hollers, coming back into the room. He's got a pile of fabrics in his hands, and he drops them on the floor beside a wall filled to the ceiling with totes of scrap material and abandoned projects. Jay steps back and considers the wall.

“He’ll want something non-restrictive,” he mutters, digging through a tote on the far right. “Helmet? Could feed a cord through there… Hmm. Or what about this...”

Cole comes to stand beside Kai. “What in the world is he doing?” he whispers.

Kai laughs. “I forgot you haven’t seen this before. Jay’s quirk is Masterbuild,” he explains. “He can make practically anything out of anything.” As he speaks, Jay hauls a robotic dog out of the pile.

“Well that certainly is- something,” Cole says, eyes still glued to the chaos before him. Kai snorts.

There’s a tap on his shoulder. When he turns around, Nya’s standing there behind him. She’s holding something in her hands. It’s a set of gauntlets made of some dark material. They have strips of fabric sewn along the sides that three long thin points are tucked into, and velcro buckles along the insides. The whole set looks lightweight, like they’ll be easy to wear.

“New bracers,” she says. “I made you some darts to fit in them, so you have more precision. They’re the same weight and density of your quills.”

“Thanks, Nya,” Kai says. A look passes between them, a conversation unspoken. He knows how hard it is for her to support him getting back into the hero ring. He knows that this is her trusting him.

Kai takes the bracers.

A beeping goes off from the next room. Jay pops up from where he’s half-buried beneath a pile of odds and ends. “That’ll be the analysis done!” he says cheerily.

He vanishes into the hallway.

Kai takes the moment to wrap the bracers around his arms. True to their appearance, they’re extremely lightweight. He figures out how to launch the darts from their sleeves and lines his hand up with the target board in the corner.

Bullseye.

“I’ve got it,” Jay says, coming back into the room. The redhead has a small stack of paper that he’s flipping through, and he makes an _aha_ noise as he nears the end. “The dust on the scarf is actually flour- strong-flour if we want to get specific. Which we do. I had the machine test for composition. That type of flour is commonly used for bread in the west, but around here-”

“Noodles,” Nya finishes.

“So it’s a noodle place,” Cole says. “Jay, that’s brilliant!”

Jay preens.

“But that still means we have to find the right one,” Kai complains. “There’s thousands of noodle stands in this city. What are we supposed to do, go break into noodle houses until we find the one with the underground drug operation in its basement?”

“No need,” Lloyd says. He licks his finger, rubs it against the stain, and pops it in his mouth. “Hmm. Master Chen. He’s the one you’re looking for.”

The rest of them stare at him in revulsion.

“I am… disgusted,” Nya says.

Jay gags. “I can’t believe you’ve done this.”

They jump on Lloyd together, shouting.

“It’s a valid method of identification!” Lloyd wails. “Ow! Why are you booing at me? I’m right!”

\---

Kai draws his mask up over his nose.

The night is dark with no moon to light their way. Still, Kai can’t help but feel exposed. He's used to running through streets like these during the daytime, when people are out and the chase is loud. Sneaking through the city like this, disguised and without approval, is exhilarating at the same time it is unnerving. He tugs his mask higher.

Lloyd’s… less than valid method of identification gave them their brand, but there were still multiple Chen’s Noodle House locations in the city alone. It had been Jay who found the right one at last, connecting the noodle clue with the sand particles also clinging to the scarf. They were looking for a place along the beach.

So it’s not a restaurant they’re showing up to. It's a large warehouse along the harbor that, on paper, claims to be a storage unit for the chain. The train to get there had taken nearly an hour. They are quite a ways away from home.

“It should be just ahead,” Cole whispers. They round the corner towards the beach. There- on the sand- the building looms up before them.

“Bingo,” says Nya.

They rush forward, pausing by the door. The paint is chipping and the walls are dented, but light spills out from the crack between the doors and the subtle hum of machinery whirs inside.

“Last call,” Cole says. He turns away from the door to look them all in the eye. “Everything else we’ve done so far can be mostly explained away, but once you step through that door it’s vigilantism. I don’t want any of you doing something you’ll regret later.”

“And give up when we’ve come this close?” Lloyd says. “Uh, no?”

“What the kid said,” Nya says. She’s outfitted in a sleek metal costume very reminiscent of the Marvel superhero, complete with hand lasers and everything. “My mother didn’t raise a quitter.”

“But I thought you were against vigilantism,” Cole says, looking baffled. Kai takes pity on him.

“I never was against vigilantism because it’s illegal,” he tells him, pulling his mask down spontaneously so his smile is exposed. “It’s because you’re alone when you do it.” He taps their knuckles together. “And we’re not alone now.”

“We’re all in this together,” Jay sings nonsensically.

Cole looks down at their hands. “We're all in this together,” he says.

They step inside.

Four workers are standing over the machines. One of them has an obvious mutation quirk- where his legs should be are two snake tails instead. Another has green skin and hair. The last two have no obvious quirk features that Kai can tell.

No one notices their arrival for a long moment.

“Bang bang bang,” Lloyd says, rapping against the wall. “Anybody home?”

The workers snap to attention. “Intruder!” shouts Snake-legs, seizing the metal pike resting beside him. Green Girl starts emitting lime-colored gas from her skin. The two others take out masks and step behind her.

Snake-legs charges forward. Cole bounces on the balls of his feet. “Red, Silver, and Blue,” he commands, “neutralize the two in the back.” In keeping with Cole’s theme, they've all decided to go with simple color calls. “I've got this one. Green-”

“I've got the gas,” Lloyd interjects. He’s still for a moment, and then his body shudders. When he raises his head again, his eyes glow green. He stretches out his hands. The windows of the warehouse burst open and wind gusts inside, carrying the toxic air from the building.

Green Girl howls. Jay shoots something from his gauntlet and crashes a piece of shelving down onto her head.

“Nice one, Morro!” he cries.

Lloyd flips him off. Then the glow drains from his eyes and he puts his hand down quickly.

Kai laughs. “You ready, Silver?”

Nya fires her thrusters. “Try and keep up,” she taunts.

They rush for the last two workers. One of them raises her hands. A metal pot wobbles from the shelf behind her, but Kai knocks it easily from her control and sends another quill to pin her arm to the floor. He bangs her in the head with the discarded pot. Beside him, Nya falls from the air onto the last lackey’s chest. All the breath goes out of him at once.

“Back up!”

Kai springs out of the way as Jay appears. A thin stream of sticky liquid sprays from his gauntlet, solidifying and gluing the lackeys to the ground.

“Is there anyone else?” comes Cole’s voice. He has Snake-legs trapped beneath one of the machines by his arms, snake legs wiggling uselessly in the air. “Did we get them all?”

“We got them all,” Nya confirms. She circles around the warehouse above them. “What’s in the machines?”

Jay checks. “They were actually making noodles,” he says, disappointed. “Ooh! Dumpling wrappers!”

“There has to be something else,” Kai says. “No one has this much security for a couple of noodle machines.” He leans against one of them, breathing raggedly. His knee protests each movement. He fumbles in his belt for painkillers.

“In the back,” Lloyd says. “Morro says there are doors that lead to another room.”

“Lead the way,” Cole says.

They burst through the set of double doors. It’s a sudden plunge into darkness from the fluorescently-lit big room, and Kai stumbles over his own feet. He can hear the others around him, but he can’t see any of them. He keeps his center of balance low, swiping uselessly through the dark.

“Looking for something?” someone asks, right into his ear. Silver-blue lightning springs to life in front of his face.

It's the quirk-stealer girl. Kai startles backward. Cole shouts, pulling Lloyd back by his collar. Nya and Jay regard her warily.

The girl stands in the middle of their circle, looking calm as can be. She fiddles with the lightning in her hand, passing it from palm to palm. “Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in.” A pair of fuzzy red cat ears sprout from her equally red hair. “That’s me,” she says, grinning. “I’m the cat.”

Kai raises his fists. All the quills on his head stand to attention, ready to shoot off at a moment’s notice. “Stand down,” he says. “I’m not asking again.”

For a second he thinks _this is it_. At least I went out in a blaze of glory. But the girl lowers her hands with a laugh.

“I don’t want to fight you. Did you really think I would be so dumb to start something in the broad daylight like that?” she asks, amused. “I wanted you to find me.”

Cole splutters. “What?”

Quirk-stealer girl rolls her eyes. “Losing a piece of clothing like that is so amateur,” she says. She pauses, looking over their group. “Apparently, that’s what I got back.”

Kai bristles. “Amateur?”

“Relax, Spikey,” the girl says. “The pros aren’t worth anything in this part of town. They’re all bought off by the mob or involved in their own schemes to advance their own placements. We got our own kickstarter backing from Wishception, but you didn’t hear that from me.”

She steps forward. Nya levels her blasters and Kai slips out one of his darts, but all she does is push a vat aside. It scrapes against the floor, easily eighty pounds, but she moves it like it weighs nothing. Where it once stood is a trapdoor.

“He's down there,” the quirk-stealer girl says. “The man you’re looking for.”

“Ya-huh,” Lloyd says. His face is skeptical. “I know how this works. Do you mind showing us the way? Or, like, climbing into this death hole with us?”

“Don’t worry,” the quirk-stealer girl says. Her grin is sharp. “You can’t miss it.”

Cole gives a jerky nod. “Alright.” He steps forward, turning his back toward the girl, uncaring, and lifts the trapdoor.

“Cole!” Kai hisses, springing forward to cover him. “You’re really gonna just do what she says? She could be lying!”

Cole glances back at him. “I trust her,” he says. “She could have easily attacked us up here, but she didn’t. I think she’s telling the truth about this too.”

Kai looks at the girl. She smiles back at him. He glares at her.

“I’m going down,” Cole says. “The rest of you don’t have to follow, I’ll understand if you don’t.”

Kai scoffs. Did he really think they’d just send him to his death by himself? “Of course we’re coming,” he says.

“Actually-” Jay says.

“We’re all in this together,” Kai sing-songs at him.

Jay deflates. “Fine,” he says, glaring. “Lead us into the death hole, oh great leader.”

Cole drops through the trapdoor. Lloyd follows him. Kai goes last. He does the I’m-watching-you motion at the girl. She waves back. Reluctantly, Kai turns his eyes forward.

They’re descending, wooden stairs creaking beneath their feet. Kai feels along the walls to guide him, thankful for the gloves that keep his hands from getting splinters. Up ahead, Nya lights her fingers. The fire that flares into existence is weak by her standards, which means it's still hot enough to melt aluminum. Kai knows from childhood experience to stay far back.

They walk for what feels like an eternity. Kai’s knee is complaining at him, even with the meds he popped earlier. He knows it will be even worse once they wear off. Wood gives way to brick and brick gives way to stone. They’ve got to be below the bedrock, Kai thinks nonsensically. Does bedrock even exist? Or is it just some Minecraft thing of Lloyd’s that he’s internalized as a fact again?

Jay trips in front of him. Kai stumbles to catch him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” Jay says. “I just- _Woah_.”

“What?” Kai asks. He looks up. “ _Woah_.”

The stairs have suddenly opened up. They’ve been dumped into an enormous underground chamber.

“There’s an entire world down here,” Cole breathes.

Kai steps away from Jay, turning in a slow circle. Stone pillars grow past their heads and into a ceiling too tall for him to see the top of. They have a spiral sort of pattern to them, raised lines going round and round around. They outline a path in front of them, pointing to a place far ahead where golden light spills from a hole in the wall.

“Have you ever heard of something like this?” Nya asks, somewhere behind him.

“No.” Lloyd’s voice is hushed. “Nothing like this.”

“I think that’s where we need to go,” Jay says, pointing towards the light.

They take their time, crossing the floor of the immense cavern. Closer, Kai realizes that the light is coming from an open door. It’s centered in the middle of a building, blocked out with smaller, more intricate pillars, framed by high white walls and stone carvings.

It’s a looming cathedral.

They circle away from the open door, ending up to the left of it. This way hopefully no one can see them, but it also means they can’t see inside. Jay pulls a mass of panels and wires from his toolbelt and starts rigging up a listening device.

“That’ll take too long,” Nya hisses. “They could come out here at any moment, and then where will we be?”

“I’m doing my best, alright?”

Cole frowns. “Lloyd, is Morro able to tell what’s inside?”

Lloyd glances into the open air in his right. His head tilts, like he’s listening to something. “If he’ll cooperate,” he says. “Gimme a moment.”

“Alright,” Cole says. Lloyd steps aside, arguing in hushed whispers with himself. Cole spares a glance to watch him go. His gaze rakes over their group. “This has to be it,” he says. “And whoever’s inside here is gonna be ready for us, not like the guards upstairs.” He pauses. “It’ll be dangerous. I don’t want anyone fighting who’s not on their best game.” He gives Kai a worried look as he says it.

Kai grits his teeth. “I’m not sitting behind,” he says. “Out of all of us, I’m the only one with combat experience in situations like this.”

Cole looks displeased. He opens his mouth.

“Look,” Kai says. “I’m gonna fight no matter what. Just make me part of your plan so at least I won’t be screwing up any of your stuff.”

Cole sighs. Lloyd reappears a moment later, eyes hard and mouthing to himself.

“There are seven people inside,” he whispers. “Two mutation quirks- one with wings and one with horns. They’re right inside the door. There’s a girl who's a water manipulator and a man with piercings. One man is up at the altar, and the last two are near the center but Morro doesn’t know what they have.”

Cole glances over their group again. His eyes settle onto and lock with Kai’s. Kai nods shortly. Cole exhales. “Fine. Here’s what we’re gonna do.”

\---

They crash through the cathedral doors.

Lloyd, eyes glowing, sends a wild gust of wind down the center aisle as Nya shoots overhead. Jay follows, armed with one of Nya’s gauntlets and his own. He covers the wings of the one mutant with his glue strings and blasts the other into the far wall. Kai and Cole bring up the rear.

“Get down!” Kai shouts. He shoots out a ring of quills that go singing over his teammate’s heads. Not many hit their mark, but they do what he intended. The water manipulator is so distracted by his show that Nya swoops down easily and evaporates her supply.

The girl screams. Nya laughs, launching back into the air, but a shadow springs from the rest and knocks her to the floor. Kai glances around frantically. There- one of the ones Lloyd attacked- the man with sickly skin and dark hair who’s standing in direct light without casting a shadow.

Kai shouts. Shadow-man’s head snaps up towards him. Kai shoots a quill. Shadow-man jumps into his own shadow, escaping, but at least it means he's no longer hassling Nya.

There's a retching noise from beside him. Lloyd is braced against the wall, hand over his mouth. Quirk backlash- the glow is gone from his eyes when he looks at Kai. His eyes widen. “Look out!”

Kai ducks. Something flies above his head. A hand snatches it out of the air- the Bull mutation kid. It's an armored case. Bull Boy opens it up.

“Stop him!” Cole shouts.

Vials of yellow liquid slosh inside of the case, along with a row of filled syringes secured to the top. Bull Boy takes one of the syringes and stabs it into his arm. The yellow fluid drains from the needle. He tosses it aside, cracking his knuckles.

Kai shoots a quill at him. Immediately, he knows the effect of the drug. His quill bounces harmlessly off the man's now-silvery arm. Metal. After several seconds, the color recedes from his skin.

Kai curses. Lloyd covers his ears.

“Great!” shouts Jay. “Now he's got bulletproof skin! This just keeps getting better and better!”

“Oh, you haven't seen nothing yet,” says a voice behind them. It's the piercing man. He smirks at them, waving his fingers. “Wanna talk about bigger and better?”

He shoves out his hand. Kai flinches. There's a slow scraping noise from his right. Bull Boy slides across the floor, skin metal once more, picking up speed as he barrels toward the piercing man. At the last second piercing man twists. Bull Boy goes in a wide arc around him, hurling back towards Cole.

“Black!” Kai shouts. He shoots two darts from his wrist and launches himself after them. Even as he moves, he knows he's not gonna make it. The metal lackey is flying too fast. He squeezes his eyes shut and braces for being smushed.

But the impact never comes. Kai crashes into Cole. They tumble backward, colliding with the wall. Kai sits up. He leans over Cole. Both their eyes are wide.

“What happened?” Kai asks.

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Jay grunts above them. Kai looks up and yelps. Jay has his gauntlet stretched out in front of him, halting the metal boy in his tracks. “Just you being an idiot again.” He shouts, pushing, and Bull Boy flies backward into the piercing man. “Be grateful that I have a much stronger magnet ray gun that he does.”

Cole laughs breathlessly. “I owe you one,” he says. “Both of you.”

“Repay me by not standing in the path of the giant metal man next time,” Kai tells him. He tries to get up, still half on top of Cole, but his knee refuses to cooperate. Pain lances through his limbs. He collapses back to the floor. “I’m down!”

“That's alright!” Jay shouts back. “We just have Nico di Angelo left over here!” He pulls something from his tool belt. “Eyes closed!”

Light explodes. Kai can see it even through his eyelids, and he ducks his head into his shoulder. His eyesight is terrible enough; there's no need to make it worse. There's a crashing noise, and someone groans.

“All done,” comes Jay’s voice.

Kai blinks the light spots from his eyes. Bodies, both awake and unmoving, lay strewn across the floor. Lloyd is propped against the cathedral doors, eyes closed and one hand over them. Nya helps Jay examine the bodies, making sure they’re well and truly unconscious. Cole is a warm presence beneath him. Everyone is accounted for.

And yet-

Slow clapping comes from the front of the cathedral. Kai lifts his head. There’s a man up by the altar, dressed in red, with dark hair and sickly skin. Kai would know that face anywhere; albeit looking more healthy. It’s Master Chen himself. He’s clapping at them, a smile widening across his face.

“How did we miss _him_?” Nya hisses.

Jay jerks his head at something on the ground; an empty syringe rolls back and forth. “I don't know, but I bet it had something to do with that.”

“Well done!” cheers the man. “Very well done!” He surveys his fallen soldiers, a frown creasing his face. “You know, they promised me the best of the best for guards. I think I should deserve a refund, don’t you?”

“No one cares,” says Lloyd. “Just put down your weapons and come with us already.”

Chen’s face shutters. “Come with you?” he asks, suddenly low and dangerous. “No. I don’t think I will.”

He pulls something from behind his back. It's a belt with vials clipped onto it, all the same vibrant yellow color. “How about you come with me instead? To your new forever-home, deep underneath the ground!”

Kai raises his arm. He shoots a dart straight into Chen’s hand. The drug lord's fingers spasm. Yellow spills across the floor.

Chen hisses. Like, he legitimately hisses. One of the stone pillars shudders. Cracks run across its surface. At first Kai thinks he's trying to bring the ceiling down, but it's not the entire structure falling apart- just the raised part. It uncurls from around the pillar and suddenly Kai realizes what he's looking at.

It's a giant stone snake.

Chen hisses again. The other pillar shudders and another snake breaks free to join the first. Chen tells instructions to them and slowly, they rise up behind him with their crests flared.

“Well that wasn’t very nice,” he says, voice high and pleasant again. “I bet you thought you had me there. Too bad! It would be too _boring_ if I didn’t have more than one trick up my sleeve, now wouldn’t it?”

“Kai, let me up.” Cole’s hand is on his shoulder. Reluctantly and wincing, Kai moves off him. Cole studies Chen, eyes intent. Standing, he steps up to the platform.

Chen sneers at his approach. “What is this, are you trying to challenge me to a dance battle like in one of those movies?” He smiles at Cole, all teeth and no kindness. “Yes, I know all about you, Cole Brookstone. I know you don't have a hero’s quirk and the only way for you to defeat me is to-”

Cole steps up and punches him in the face. The stone snakes crumple to the floor, harmless.

“He wouldn't stop talking,” he says, shaking out his hand as the rest of them gape at him. “What?”

Jay breaks out in hysterics. “Oh my gosh!” he cries. “I can't believe you just did that! The look on everyone’s face!”

Cole flushes. He rubs the back of his neck. Kai is suddenly slammed with the memory of him doing the same motion, thousands of times before, but in his dorky overalls and bright-colored tee shirts. Now, however, he’s dressed head to toe in black. His hair is tousled and sweaty and clings in clumps to the back of his neck. His knuckles are scraped and bloody. He’s just punched a crime lord in the freaking _face_.

The juxtaposition is so odd that he can’t reconcile them for a moment.

“Kai?” Cole asks.

Kai blinks. The images come together. It’s never been about what Cole is or does for him. It’s always been just Cole.

Cole is still looking at him. Kai smiles. “That was awesome,” he says.

“Wow, you guys sure made a mess down here.”

The quirk-stealer girl is suddenly standing in the middle of them. Kai starts, hissing as it jostles his knee. The girl pauses. Something flits across her face, there for a moment and gone the next.

“Let me help you with that,” she says.

She presses her hand to Kai’s knee. Kai flinches away, but then a cooling sensation spreads through his leg. He sighs unconsciously, pressing his knee up into her touch.

“You're not fixed,” the quirk-stealer girl says, “but you should be able to stand now.”

Kai tries. Begrudgingly, he admits it feels much better.

“What about the stairs?” Nya asks, concern thinly veiled in her voice.

“Oh, no,” the girl says. “We don't need to use the stairs.” She jerks her thumb towards the altar. “There’s an elevator back here.”

They gape at her. “Why did we have to take the stairs in the first place?” Jay squawks.

The quirk-stealer girl shrugs. “Suspension of disbelief,” she says, leading them back. She presses a button and waits for the doors in the wall to open. “The elevator is impossible to find aboveground unless you know where it is. If you all failed down here, at least I wouldn't be blamed.”

They crowd into the tiny elevator. The doors slide closed on Jay’s shoe. Legitimate elevator music plays from overhead. Kai didn't think elevators even had music anymore.

“Who are you?” Cole asks.

The girl studies him. “You can call me Amber,” she says finally. “I used to be the second-in-command around here. Now, though-” she shrugs one shoulder. “Who knows? My possibilities are endless.”

When the elevator doors finally open, they all tumble out. They're back in the warehouse. The lackeys they left are still there, stuck in their various positions, and they struggle weakly when they see Amber.

“Sorry, boys,” she says, raising her hands. “I'm currently indisposed.”

They shout at her from their places; Amber is very clearly not indisposed.

“Alright,” Cole says. “Let's clean this place up.”

Amber disappears with a grin and a wink. “Make sure to check the boxes on the right wall,” she tells them, her grin hanging in the air like the Cheshire Cat.

They round up the lackeys and leave them tied up in the doorway of the warehouse. Kai leans against the noodle machine as Nya and Cole knot the chains they found in the back room around them, Nya welding the loose ends together for posterity.

Jay and Lloyd investigate the boxes and find more cases of the yellow vials.

“Breaking and entering!” Lloyd shouts, dragging the boxes over. “Whooo!”

“Should he be that enthusiastic about this?” Cole jokes. “What are you teaching this kid, Red?”

“Nothing I didn’t know already,” Lloyd says. He grins at Cole’s confused expression. “Didn’t you know? My dad used to be the head of the mob.”

Cole splutters.

“What should we do about all these?” Jay asks, gesturing at the boxes. He holds up the original case of drugs from the underground.

“Leave them for the police to find,” Kai says, taking it from him. He ties a bow around the case and sets it at the feet of the lackeys. Lloyd cheers.

They leave the scene. The moonless night wraps them in its darkness.

They take the metro home. It’s so ridiculously mundane after the rest of their night that Kai starts laughing, bent over at the waist to keep from falling over. When he glances up, Cole’s watching him. Their eyes meet, but instead of looking away the corner of Cole’s lip quirks up. Warmth settles in Kai’s chest.

He picks himself up and enters the car properly. The rest of the gang files in, laughing and talking loudly. Kai takes the seat beside Cole. The man looks surprised, but his face breaks out into a real smile. Kai smiles back.

The metro doors slide shut. The others take their seats. The station blurs together and is swallowed up by the tunnel. Cole’s saying something to them. Kai watches his hands. They’re nice hands. He’s always thought that, even before he started feeling... whatever it is that he still does.

Kai still doesn’t know exactly what he feels. He thinks he does, he thinks that ‘if this isn’t what romantic attraction feels like, then what does’, but the fact remains that he’s never felt this way about someone else before.

He might not be sure exactly of _what_ it is that he’s feeling, but he is one-hundred percent sure of _how_ he does.

Kai takes a deep breath. Then, before he can talk himself out of it, he slips his hand over Cole's.

Cole stops mid-sentence. He looks down at their hands, then back up at Kai’s face. Kai flushes. He goes to jerk back his hand, but Cole’s fingers tighten over his.

“Hey, look at me,” he says.

Cole’s grinning at him. His smile is like the sun. He tangles their fingers together and sets them on his thigh.

Kai grins back. Tentatively, he squeezes Cole’s hand.

The others are still talking around them, but their voices blend together as one. Cole squeezes his hand back.

They're gonna be okay.  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for checking out this story! I am not aro personally, so I hope this didn't come across as offensive if you are. I just wanted to write something kinda-lighthearted. Hopefully it was!
> 
> Oh, and in case you're interested, here are their quirks:
> 
> Kai: Porcupine. He has quills like an African porcupine on his head instead of hair, and a tail. He can launch these quills at will, as well as grow and change their shape. 
> 
> Nya: Torch. The pads of the index and middle fingers of both her hands produce fire not unlike a torch gun, capable of growing hot enough to weld steel.
> 
> Jay: Masterbuild. He sees the potential in everything and can create practically anything out of anything.
> 
> Lloyd: Ghost. This is a combination of his father's quirk, Necromancy, and his mother's, Stasis. He can see and interact with dead people, and when they possess him, he gets access to their powers. Morro is his childhood friend who's been with him for years.
> 
> Zane: Projection. He can eject his perspective from his body, kinda like a third-person shooter, and hover over himself. Any move he makes with his spirit is also done by his physical body.
> 
> Cole: Dance. He can do any style, any type of dance perfectly as long as there's music playing close by.
> 
> Like this fic? Drop by my [tumblr!](https://fabrowrites.tumblr.com/) And if vigilante au's are your thing, Pyr0_Kat's [Earbuds](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13854819/chapters/31868667%22) is a fantastic read!
> 
> \-----  
> edit: me revisiting this 8 months later: so actually maybe I am demi


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